Board Changes

RNS Number : 5592H

Savannah Resources PLC

07 April 2022

 

7 April 2022

Savannah Resources Plc

(AIM: SAV, FWB: SAV and SWB: SAV) ('Savannah' or the 'Company')

Board Changes

Appointment of Mary Jo Jacobi (Independent Non-Executive Director) and Manohar Pundalik Shenoy (Non-Executive Director) to the Savannah Board

Retirement of Maqbool Ali Sultan (Director) and Murtadha Ahmed Sultan (Alternate Director)

Savannah Resources plc, the European lithium development company, is pleased to announce the appointments of Mary Jo Jacobi and Manohar Pundalik Shenoy as non-executive directors effective from 7 April 2022. Previously Mr Shenoy acted as alternate director for Maqbool Ali Sultan effective from July 2016.

Ms. Mary Jo Jacobi on joining the Company as an independent non-executive director will become a member of the Remuneration and Audit and Risk Committees. Manohar Pundalik Shenoy will continue to serve as a member of the Remuneration and Audit and Risk Committees.

Savannah also advises that both Maqbool Ali Sultan (non-executive director) and Murtadha Ahmed Sultan who served as an alternate director for Imad Kamal Abdul Redha Sultan since July 2016 have retired from the Board effective from 7 April 2022.

Matthew King, Savannah's Chairman said: "I am delighted to welcome Mary Jo Jacobi and Manohar Shenoy to the Board. Mary Jo is a doyenne of the ESG movement and will oversee Savannah's ESG programme going forward. She also has a wealth of relevant industry expertise via her past roles with Shell and BP and her current position at the Weir Group. Manohar has provided very valuable support and guidance to us over a number of years now in his role as alternate   director to Maqbool Sultan and his memberships of our Audit and Risk and Remuneration Committees. It is therefore very fitting that he should now become a full Board member."

"I would also like to record the Board's gratitude to the contributions made over the last six years by Messrs Maqbool Ali Sultan and Murtadha Ahmed Sultan who are stepping down as director and alternate director, respectively. Maqbool's skills and experience have seen him recently appointed to the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Oman."

Ms Mary Jo Jacobi is a business strategy and reputation management consultant with considerable experience advising clients in the natural resources industries. She is also the non-executive director for focussing on employee engagement of The Weir Group plc. Mary Jo has held senior executive positions with BP America, Royal Dutch Shell, Lehman Brothers, HSBC Holdings, and Drexel Burnham Lambert. In the public sector she was appointed a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, one of Her Majesty's Civil Service Commissioners, Assistant United States Secretary of Commerce, and Special Assistant to US President Ronald Reagan. She also has been a non-executive director of Mulvaney Capital Management, Tate and Lyle plc and the Ladies European (Golf) Tour and chair of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

Mary Jo Jacobi, Savannah's new non-executive director said: "It will be exciting to contribute to Europe's energy self-sufficiency and the global energy transition through Savannah's planned development of lithium resources in Portugal. I am honoured to be able to be a part of such an important undertaking at a crucial time."

Mr Manohar Pundalik Shenoy holds three professional qualifications, Chartered Accountant, Cost and Works Accountant; and Company Secretary, in addition to possessing a B.Com (Honours) in Commerce, Economics & Advanced Accountancy from Bombay University. Mr Shenoy has since also participated in INSEAD's Advanced Management Programme (AMP). He has over 47 years' post-qualification corporate experience and since November 2021 is designated as Advisor to the W J Towell Group Board in various functions. In his current non-executive role, he is also a Member of the W J Towell Group Audit Committee and also continues to be Advisor to Al Marjan Ltd (who are the cornerstone shareholders of the Company) since January 2015. From June 2005 till October 2021, he was the Group Chief Financial Officer of W J Towell and Co. LLC. Within this role, Mr Shenoy had responsibility for the group's treasury, parent company and group consolidated audited accounts, group budgeting and management reporting, and group taxation. He was also a member of the Finance and Investment sub-committees of the board. Prior to this, Mr Shenoy worked with a number of multi-national corporations, particularly in India and Russia, as Finance Director / Chief Financial Officer.

The following information is disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Ms Mary Jo Jacobi, aged 68, currently holds or has held the following directorships and partnerships in the last five years:

Current Directorships / Partnerships	Directorships / Partnerships with the last 5 years
The Weir Group plc	Mulvaney Capital Management Ltd

University of Strathclyde

Mary Jo Jacobi Consulting LLC

Jephson-Beaman LLC

Ms Jacobi does not currently hold any ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company.

Mr Manohar Pundalik Shenoy, aged 70, currently holds or has held the following directorships and partnerships in the last five years:

Current Directorships / Partnerships	Directorships / Partnerships with the last 5 years
Al Bustan Al Khaleeji WLL   Continental Sourcing Pvt Ltd  Sarooj Pars Investment Company SSK  Blanket Hospitality Ventures Private Ltd  Blue Rock Hospitality Ventures Pvt Ltd	Majan Distribution Co. LLC Fairtrade LLC Oman International Development Co. LLC Towell Urban Development Co. LLC Talat Al Khoud Development Co. LLC Distinguished Warehouses Gulf Co. LLC  Towell Talati LLC Project Supplies & Solutions LLC IOT Digital FZ Iranian Bonyan Machines SSK Middle East Telecommunications Co. LLC Jawad Sultan Technologies LLC

Mr Shenoy currently holds 5,809,524 ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company. 

There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.

Regulatory Information

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

**ENDS**

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For further information please visit www.savannahresources.com or contact:

Savannah Resources PLC David Archer, CEO	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Advisor) David Hignell / Charlie Bouverat	Tel: [phone]
finnCap Ltd (Joint Broker) Christopher Raggett/ Tim Redfern RBC Capital Markets (Joint Broker) Marcus Jackson/ Farid Dadashev/ Jamil Miah	Tel: [phone]
WH Ireland Limited (Joint Broker) Jessica Cave/ Ben Good (Corporate Finance) Aimee McCusker (Corporate Broking)	Tel: [phone]
Camarco (Financial PR) Gordon Poole/ Emily Hall/Tessa Gough-Allen	Tel: [phone]

About Savannah

Savannah is the owner of the Barroso Lithium Project, located close to key infrastructure in Northern Portugal which contains the most significant spodumene lithium resource in Western Europe. Following a positive Scoping Study which outlined a conventional operation producing 175,000t of spodumene concentrate per annum, Savannah is progressing the development and environmental licencing of the Barroso Lithium Project. A Definitive Feasibility Study is underway, and Portugal's environmental regulator is currently evaluating Savannah's Environmental Impact Assessment study. The Company is listed and regulated on AIM and the Company's ordinary shares are also available on the Quotation Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB) under the symbol FWB: SAV, and the Börse Stuttgart (SWB) under the ticker "SAV".

 

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